Previews

Dead Rising

Remember that scene in Shaun of the Dead in which Shaun and Ed debated about which old records to throw at the two zombies in their backyard? Substitute restaurant plates for records, and you've got the right idea. Most makeshift weapons are designed to distract or stun the hordes (food items, toy lightsabers, cash registers) but others, like a well-timed plate toss, are lethal. Even a well timed shot with a hockey puck can take down a zombie for enough time for Frank to run. Antique swords can be used to cleave the opposition in two. He can even pick up a parasol and use it to push through mass numbers of the undead. It's the ingenuity of allowing the environment to be so interactive that helps drive the fun factor home with this one.
But, before completely praising an unfinished game as being utterly flawless, there are some issues going on at this point. There were some game-crashing bugs in the build, a moment I realized when I picked up a skateboard inside of a sporting goods store to whack a zombie and killed the game I had going. But bugs are to be expected in early builds, and the game should have those kinks worked out by release date.

Also, the framerate noticeably stuttered in some points. Weirdly, they didn't seem to happen when Frank was fighting a mob, but in certain stores on the level map. Hopefully, they're issues that can be ironed out in time for the game's Q2 release. If there's any real critical question to be asked, however, of Dead Rising, it's whether or not the final experience will truly be everything that Capcom claims it will. Is the game going to really be good enough to play through more than once, as they claim it will? It remains to be seen, and that's a pretty tall order coming from any publisher.
Whether the game's good enough to be replayed a few times, or it's only worthy of one run, Dead Rising seems like it's coming along nicely. With the announcement of the 72 hour period, the title seems to be evolving a lot more from what we played nearly six months ago at TGS and again six weeks ago at CES. The demo build took Frank around a sizable area of the mall, and even took him outside to an area filled with nearly a hundred undead prowling around a fountain. It's an impressive, and fun title that looks like it's going to have more depth to it than just the non-stop killing that we've played in the past. There are still some flaws that need to be worked out, but overall, Dead Rising is undeniably fun, and should be one of the top titles for Q2 on Xbox 360.